School

Starts tomorrow for me!!!!  I've bought my books, scribbled all over my planner, joined my study groups, and even looked at the syllabuses.  Some of my classmates have been really eager and even started reading and working on the assignments ahead of time!  I, however, have resisted the urge to become an over-achiever and have reveled in my last free weekend without work or school hanging over my head.   Scott and I have slept in late, laid around watching football, played with the dogs, mourned the Saints loss, and even made it to Port of Call with some friends last night for dinner after the game. I've been working hard on getting over my nasty cold by slamming gallons of hot tea and eating oranges with every meal, along with lots of vitamins, naps, and lemon honey water.  Today I am finally starting to feel better, which makes the thought of school not seem as daunting. I'm excited for everything I'm going to be learning about, and rest assured, you will be hearing lots more about it as the weeks go on.
Good luck to everyone else who starts classes tomorrow as well!  Yay for being students!

Epiphany

We celebrated by taking down the Christmas tree and our lights out front.  I'm in the process of organizing and boxing everything up for next year.  Now all that's needed is a King's Cake and then it's time to start getting excited for Mardi Gras!

Northern Christmas

We had a great time in Wisconsin!  Since we had five whole days there we got to catch up with almost everyone who I've been craving.  Plenty of family time and plenty of play time with friends.  Here's some pics from the last week...

Christmas at my parents and cooking with Grandma Knapp

Opening presents!  My parents & us

More presents!

Both of my Grandma's were there and it made me so happy to get to spend so much time with them

New Year's Eve Party with the girls

While the boys were busy playing games

Coffee with college roomies I haven't seen in far too long

Then on Sunday we headed to Chicago for almost two days and got to see more family! 

We spent Monday at the Museum of Science & Industry and had a blast!  Hopefully we'll be getting to go back soon and spend more time with them.

Best Decision of the Day:

A fast paced 30min walk at 5pm with the dogs and their crazy selves.  They have been snoring at my feet ever since.  Well, Lucy more snoring and Ariyah more running in place and fidgeting with her silly dreams.  Please note the time.  I am in heaven and afraid to move from this computer, lest I break the spell and wake them from their unusual response to exercise (usually it breeds more hyperactivity for at least an hour or two before they take a quick nap and then wake up and forgot they got exercise in the first place and think they need more).

I'm a ...clinic nurse?

Last I checked gas, indigestion, and one or two little squirts of diarrhea eight hours ago are not medical emergencies my dearest pregnant lovelies.  They do not require an ambulance ride to the hospital.  And they really don't even require a visit to the hospital.  We're ok with you having gas.  I really am just so sorry you gorged yourselves so heavily yesterday that you caused these problems which you expect us to magically fix immediately, but really.  I just don't think I could be happier to be done with you and your fragrant behinds and home with my exhausted husband.
Who is in the bathtub.
Watching How I Met Your Mother.
Because he is just that cool and only has 12 more hours of work before his torturous sentence is over.   

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Only four more days until we fly to Wisconsin and get one!  Until then you can find us at the hospital, performing Christmas miracles and delivering Christmas babies.  Hoping everyone has a safe and joyous weekend!

Just call me little Susie Homemaker

How I spent today:

Rolling out Oreo balls for Truffles, which lead to this:

After cleaning up that mess I dipped all that chocolatey goodness into more chocolately goodness to make these....

and these...

Then I took a break from the candy and loaded the crock pot with this - 

and let that simmer away for the afternoon while I made these

Too many of those.  But they're one of my favorites, so I just had to.  And then finally, I foolishly dove into making a double recipe of these:

The delicious smelling dinner that was waiting for me once all that was finished was pretty much the most amazing thing ever.  Now, who wants to come and deal with this mess???  I will pay you well with goodies :)

This last week has been a busy one, and once again I'm behind on posting so - here ya go!

• We still have two dogs.  No one came and took them.  They did not actually destroy any presents - just all my wrapping.  
• It has been a year now since we got Scott's cancer diagnosis.  Wahoo
• Lucy had her uterus extracted on Monday.  We have been having some aggression issues lately with her and getting her spayed was the first thing all experts suggested.  She was rather mean and cranky for that first 30 hours or so after she came home, but has settled down now.  She has actually been the most playful and loving dog I've ever seen her to be these last two days now though.  I walked into the kitchen on Friday to find Ariyah sprawled out on the floor with Lucy standing over her gently licking her face, and her ears, and her neck just oh so lovingly.  It was a little awkward, but goes to show that they are quite happy with each other again.
• Scott's parents and sister came for four days and we celebrated Christmas.  By laying tile.  And eating out for almost every meal (which isn't bad at all in our city).  All of the linoleum came up in the kitchen and laundry room, we pulled all of the appliances out (including the water heater, which was a beast), and spent two whole days after that laying and grouting tile.  180 square feet of it.  And then we put all the appliances back in and hooked them back up.  We were beat by Wednesday night.  Absolutely exhausted.  I have not been as sore as I was on Thursday in forever.  My legs were killing me all day at work from squatting and kneeling so much.  Bah.  BUT!  We have recovered and the floor looks awesome!!!  We never could have done it without their help and I am so glad they were up for it!  Even aside from the work it was just so nice to have them here with us and I'm so glad they could come.  Now Scott and I just need to seal the grout and put the thresholds back in and we will be alllll done.    
• Scott is on his 32nd hour of work since Friday, as I type.  Only about 88 more hours to go between now and next Monday and then we will be headed to Wisconsin to celebrate a white Christmas!  Can't wait to see everyone!

Me? Be naughty? Neeever

Free Dogs to a good or bad home:

I just spent the last hour carefully wrapping all of the Christmas presents and placing them under the tree in preparation for Mackey Christmas this coming week.  I went in the bathroom for a few minutes to put on makeup and get myself presentable to the world, only to come out and find the gifts UNWRAPPED and strewn throughout the house with bits of wrapping paper and gifts bags everywhere!!!!
Anyone who wants these mutts is welcome to come and get them.  Now.  They're locked in the laundry room waiting for you.

We're ready!

Today I dragged Scott, and his sick self (he has a nasty cold and has been a miserable snotty fountain all weekend), off the couch and outside to help me with the lights.  The house is now decorated and we are ready for Christmas!  Well, except for all the gifts and cooking and parties and traveling we still have to do....

Decorating

Scott surprised me when I got home from work yesterday with a Christmas tree set up and lit up in our living room!  Today I've been trying to decorate it, along with some of the rest of the house.  I have a feeling this may be a long season for the ornaments if it continues this way....

From now on Lucy doesn't get unsupervised time in front of the tree I guess.  She's just like having a toddler around!

Give Thanks

Due to our work schedules this year, Scott and I had to stay in town for the holiday, and celebrated away from family.  We didn't have much time to mope around about that though because our buddies, the Crouches, flew in from Oklahoma for the weekend to see us!   

Esther, Anna, & Mark

They flew in on Wednesday afternoon, just in time for our big Thanksgiving Dinner that we hosted.  Several of our other resident friends and significant others also had to stay in town due to work, so we decided to have a big Friend Thanksgiving.

Scott got a 20lb turkey and we soaked it overnight on Tuesday in a homemade Bourbon Maple Syrup brine.  Then we dried it and rubbed it down with a salt/spice mix we made and stuck an opened 40oz beer with onions and garlic up it's booty, before smoking it for the afternoon before our big dinner.  

Scott getting the turkey ready for the smoker

Rubbed down and ready to smoke!

Our delicious turkey waiting patiently to be carved up by the boys

Everyone else brought sides and deserts and we feasted the evening away.  It was AMAZING.  

Our feast - which included, but was not limited to Baked Brie, Turkey, Green Bean casserole, mashed smoked sweet potatoes, homemade biscuits, toasted cheesey bread, Southern Cabbage, Beets, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Apple Pie and Chocolate Turtle Cake.

The Thanksgiving Crew

All in all it was a fabulous evening and we're so thankful to have such good friends here to share our holiday with.  I worked on Thanksgiving afternoon/evening and Scott had to go into work this afternoon.  In between those work hours though, we've spent lots of time wandering the city with the Crouches, eating tons of good food, listening to live music and exploring plenty of fun little shops together.  We've also had some good relaxation time (having a toddler around makes you take time for afternoon naps - which is great!) and we're sad to see our mini stay-cation coming to an end as the Crouches fly home to Tulsa tonight.

I am finally starting to get excited for the holidays.  All it took was purchasing a three pack of various 'Holiday Candles' yesterday and I'm there.  We have Peppermint Something-or-other burning right now, filling our noses with little tastes of heaven.  It makes me so happy!!  I am amazed at how just a scent can take me to a completely different place and change my entire mood.  It's made me realize how quickly everything is sneaking up on me.  Thanksgiving is next week already!  Only 11 days away to be exact.  Christmas is right around the corner.  We have big meals to prepare for, company to get excited about, and lots of gifts to start buying.  Guess I'll be making a giant To-Do list, and burning lots of candles in an attempt to not get crabby while working on it.

Foodie Day

I once heard that New Orleans has more Festival days than they do days of the year.  I believe it.  This weekend was the Po-Boy Festival.  It was fabulous!!!  For those who don't know, a Po-Boy (Poor boy) is the local sandwich of choice here in Louisiana.  They're the best, most original Subway sandwiches you'll ever eat.  And today we saw more varieties of them than I've ever seen before. We went this afternoon with a few friends and ate to our hearts delight.  About a mile of Oak Street was lined with tents from various restaurants and shops around town selling their signature versions of the sandwich.  There were plenty of delicious Po-Boys with every type of meat from deep fried oysters, deep fried or BBQ shrimp and hot sausage, to Root Beer glazed ham, slow roasted duck, prime beef debris, and tempura soft shell crab.  I LOVE the food in this city and it's days like today that make me want to live here forever and ever and ever and ever.

Dog days of...Fall?

Today, while all my lovies up north are reveling in their first winter storm warnings and accumulating ten inches of snow, we are LOVING fall.  This is one of the best times of year here in New Orleans.  All the windows and doors are open and we're soaking up as much warmth as we can before it gets cold.  The dogs love this especially, because we just leave the back door open and they run in and out all day.  Lucy decided it was warm enough that she needed her pool filled and sat in it staring at me until I finally went and got the hose for her.  Here is what has ensued since:

She's been out there for the last hour now, running in and out of her pool, digging at the sidewalls, creating splashes to bite at, and is probably getting quite pruney.
Meanwhile, Ariyah has been steering clear of any possible splashes, happy with just enjoying the sunshine and her sticks with a little tastey dirt.

New Title!

I am quite proud of my new name badge - all my dreams are coming to fruition.  Slowly, but surely. 

 *Happy Sigh*

Frontier Bound

I am in Hyden, KY and having a great time so far!  It is so amazing to be with so many other women who have the same passion and have worked so hard to get to this place - a new beginning for the rest of our lives.  My cup is full, and I couldn't feel more blessed to have things work out so perfectly.  God's timing and plan is always perfect.  Now, onto a packed week of orientation...

Three shy of 100

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!

This year my Grandma Koehler turns 97!!!  You seriously would never know how old she is by watching her.  I am so proud to have her as my Grandma and I pray if I am still alive at that age, I am still doing my own laundry, trying to sneak off and drive to the grocery store alone, and taking care of myself the way she does.  Her spunk and attitude keep me laughing on a regular basis, and she has left a wonderful legacy to this family with her strong faith.  So, here's to another great year Grams, we love you!

Nothing New

And we're perfectly ok with that!  Scott had an Ultrasound of his neck and CT Scan of his chest and neck this last week.  Both came back negative.  The nodules in his lungs have not changed size, and they couldn't find anything new!  It seems that his Calcitonin is still elevated like it was in July, but it has not increased any more since then so we are happy about that!  Whatever little bit of cancer went through a growth spurt to cause the elevated level has decided to lay low for now.

I will be flying to Kentucky on Monday morning for my school orientation.  I'll be there for the week and I'm getting pretty excited.  As you may remember, I was accepted this summer for the fall class, but decided to defer due to us thinking Scott needed surgery.  They graciously pushed me back to the winter class and now I start on January 10th.  This next week I'll be meeting the faculty and staff at the school, as well as the rest of my classmates, who I will be communicating with online during school.  I'll also be meeting my advisor and registering for classes.

And, for the last little bit of good (depending on how you look at it) news - I am planning on giving up my full time position at work at the end of December!  We were thinking I would need to stay at least part time to keep my benefits because the health insurance has covered Scott's cancer testing/treatment/surgeries so well this last year.  Benefits re-enrollment was last week and we were shocked to find that if I went to part time and kept benefits I would be paying OVER $800/month for Scott and I's health insurance.  I would almost be working solely to pay health insurance!  SO, we are going to be changing to insurance through Scott's job, and I no longer have to work even part time, if it seems too stressful once school starts! This has been a little black cloud hanging over my head since getting accepted to school and I feel so relieved to have the option to not be forced to work 20+ hours on top of my 40 hours of school each week.  We'll see how everything goes once classes start and go from there, as far as figuring my schedule out, but for now it's nice to have options.